Monrovia – Liberians went to the poll on Tuesday, October 10, 2017, to exercise their political franchise, aimed at electing a new successor for President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who is expected to step down in January, 2018. Complaints about irregularities and votes compromising about the process continue to filter in from across the country.
Report by Willie N. Tokpah – [email protected]
These complaints, according to some rights groups, citizens and candidates, are unpleasant and do not augur well for Liberia’s democratic transition.
The concerns were triggered by reports from Nimba County Districts three and four, Grand Gedeh County District #2 and the latest on the National Elections Commission (NEC) Chairman, Cllr. Jerome Korkoya’s Friday pronouncement of total vote count for the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), one of the opposition political parties, which contested in the October 10 Presidential and Legislative Elections.
The NEC boss’ comment conflicted with what he had announced on air and ones that the Commission had posted on its website.
In Nimba County Districts #3 and #4, #2 contenders for the representative seats alarmed that the voting process was compromised, thus calling for polls to be redone, while in Grand Gedeh district two, the lead contender, Willie Dweh, raised concern over fraud.
Dweh complained that the number of votes counted in one polling precinct surpassed the total number of electorates, who registered in the area.
Dweh called for polling to be redone at that center and FrontPage Africa was informed that the election magistrate is looking into the matter.
However, polling is expected to be conducted for the second time at the conflicting polling centers in Nimba County.
Already Liberty Party, headed by Cllr. Charles Walker Brumskine, is considering taking the NEC to court for election irregularities.
These concerns have prompted a Liberian human rights group, Campaigners for Change International (CfCI), to call for the resignation of the elections commission boss.
CfCI, through its National Director, Vandalark Patricks, stated that irregularities and fraud are continually being heard and displayed in the announcement of the results.
“With such discrepancies that have started to show up, coupled with the NEC boss’ initial association with the Unity Party (he contested on UP ticket in 2011 and lost), we are demanding that Cllr. Korkoya step down and give peace a change,” Patricks said.
Patricks argued that the presence of Cllr. Korkoya on the Commission could plunge Liberia into chaos.
In his comments, which he posted on his social media page last Saturday, he noted that NEC conflicting accounts of CDC vote accumulation signals that those at the Commission are tempering with the results.
He emphasized that Mr. Korkoya announced 240,750 votes for CDC and 160,975 votes for the ruling Unity Party (UP) during the preliminary announcement of results for the second time. However, he noted that the Commission’s website showed a different figure.
“Regrettably, the results he verbally announced is completely different from what was posted on the National Elections Commission’s website. As you can see, CDC votes has been drastically manipulated and reduced from 240,750 that he announced verbally to 204,750 that is posted on NEC website. But he maintained the initial figure he verbally announced for the ruling Unity Party on the website,” the CfCI head stressed.
This, according to the group, shows that Cllr. Kokoyah is ‘incompetent’ for the job.
The rights group also condemned Cllr. Kokoyah for refusing to announce results of other candidates and not taking questions from the media at the start of preliminary results announcement on October 12, 2017.
Mr. Patricks, who in time past has been very critical of President Ellen Johnson and her government, wants Liberians join in calling for Cllr. Korkoya’s resignation.
Cllr. Korkoya, however, admitted in his Saturday results announcement, that it was oversight when he pronounced a higher figure for CDC other than the one which was posted on the Commission’s website. According to him, the 204,750 on the website was the right figure and not the 240,750 that he had inadvertently aired.